Food Safety Policy

food safety is our top priority, so we don’t take any risks with safety or hygiene

It's your safety we're talking about... the safety of your children, your family, your friends, your customers, or whoever you're making the cake for, so we hope you will agree with our no-compromise approach to food safety

Cake Stuff do not do is sell second-hand goods.  This means that when you receive an item from us you know it is brand new and has been stored and handled in a professional, hygienic environment at all times where we can control temperature, humidity, hygiene, how it is handled, who handles it and anything else which may affect the quality of the products we sell

As a reputable business, we will always endeavour to fully meet our responsibilities under the Sale of Goods Act and Distance Selling Regulations, but there are grey areas within the guidelines where edible / perishable products are involved.  In general terms, retail customers can exercise their rights under the Distance Selling Regulations to return an item unless the item is exempt under the regulations.  Until the courts come up with a definitive judgement to cover this entire area so that we all know where we stand, we are simply making clear our interpretation of the legal position and would respectfully ask that only customers who agree with our position proceed to order from us

For this reason, we cannot accept returns of any edible product or food-contact items (eg cake boards & boxes) even if they appear unopened, unless the item is damaged, faulty or has been supplied incorrectly

Where an edible item is damaged, faulty or has been supplied incorrectly we will happily replace it at our expense or credit / refund you in full on return of the item.  On the rare occasion where this happens, we never re-sell the item - it is returned to the manufacturer for a credit, or is destroyed

Whenever you buy an item from us you know that it has been in the possession of only the manufacturer, sometimes their distributor, and Cake Stuff before being packed for delivery to you.  We have fun, but this is one area we take very seriously - as we hope do you

Over the past 40 years we have been blessed by meeting thousands of lovely customers but, as we all know, there are a handful of odd-bods out there who seem to enjoy hurting people or just generally causing chaos for the sheer hell of it.  Our Food Safety Policy is designed to eliminate any potential risk posed by such people (no matter how tiny you perceive this risk to be) as you can rest assured the edible and food-contact products in your order have never been already sold to, or returned by, any other customer


BEST BEFORE DATES

Under current UK and EU legislation, most edible products must display a BEST BEFORE END (BBE) date.  Certain foodstuffs such as meat products also must display a USE BY date.  Please note that these two types of dates are not the same.  This causes confusion so please let us try to explain . . .

Firstly - nothing we sell requires a USE BY date

Most of the edible supplies we sell will display a BEST BEFORE END (BBE) date, which is designed to help the customer determine the age of the product.  A BBE date is for guidance only and is more an aid for the retailer than for the customer.  There is nothing at all which can go off or become dangerous in any product which is nearing or has passed the BBE date.  A BBE date is as much an aid for stock rotation as anything else and proof of this can be seen where identical products produced on the same day are given a 6-month BBE date for the UK market, but an 18-month BBE date if being exported

We only ever sell products which exceed their BBE dates in our CLEARANCE CORNER, in which case the BBE dates are clearly stated

We never take risks with Food Safety so please trust us and be willing to apply some good ol' fashioned common sense when it comes to BBE dates . . . if you buy two pots of colouring and one has a BBE date 12 months away and the other 18 months away, is there really a problem?

SECURITY SEALS

Not all brands (or products) have security seals but, where they do, please can we ask you to note the following? . . .

our picking teams here at Cake Stuff are taught to check-tighten the lids of every product when packing your order to prevent any little leaks - this may occasionally mean we break a paper sticker-seal if we come across a loose lid.  Please regard this is a good sign (ie that we tightened a loose lid to prevent spillage) as opposed to something sinister in that the seal has been moved or torn.  The seals are really there for retail shops - to discourage customers from opening lids.  We don't have that problem here and seals are in no way a legal requirement, so please understand why occasionally one may appear torn or damaged

COLOURINGS / ADDITIVES

Under current UK and EU legislation, there are only 3 classes of food additives . . .

  1. edible
  2. non-toxic
  3. toxic


OK, so let's get rid of toxic.  These are substances banned from use as additives for pretty obvious reasons, so they don't appear at all unless you risk buying some dodgy colourings from the Far East where you've no idea what's been added

Edible applies to a recognised foodstuff only.  Under EU regulations foodstuff means something which the body absorbs - something with nutritional value.  This causes confusion - if a product is not a recognised food in its own right then it cannot be officially classed as edible.  So, for example, an icing colouring paste based on sugar may be edible while a glitter colouring may be non-toxic

Non-Toxic applies to all products which are still considered safe should you eat them, but which are not recognised as foods in their own right.  This classification applies to a proportion of food-contact colourings, lustres, glitters etc for no other reason than that our bodies do not absorb them - they simply 'pass through'.  They are controlled by UK and EU regulations and considered safe.  Manufacturers may keep themselves right by stating for decorative use only (or some similar phrase) but they are designed for use with food items and, although we do not recommend deliberate use as edible colouring, sprinkles etc

The other reason why some products are classed as non-toxic rather than edible is to do with changes in classification.  E-numbers are often seen as a bad thing when, in fact, they exist to identify permitted additives - the 'E' simply means 'Europe'.  One of the most famous examples is Glacé Cherries - the red colouring used is classified as edible in glacé cherries but the very same colouring classified as non-toxic when used everywhere else.  There can be complex nutritional, health and political reasons why some additives are classified as edible and others are not - in the same way as certain permitted colours in the USA are not considered as edible in Europe, and vice versa


By ordering from Cake Stuff you are showing you will agree with this policy.  This policy does not affect your statutory rights

Thanks